Please read the following privacy and cookies policy, in conjunction with our main terms and conditions, to understand how we use and protect the information that you provide to us. In this policy:-

“Company” means Annandale Observer Limited, a company registered in Scotland with Company Number SC062879, and having its registered office at 96-98 High Street, Annan, DG12 6EJ, trading as DNG Media and “we”, “us” and “our” shall refer to the Company;

“Services” means any of the services provided by the Company through the medium of the Website, including but not limited to (a) provision of news stories and other information (b) advertising of cars, properties and various goods and services (c) advertising job vacancies, (d) provision of comment or discussion forums and (e) provision of competitions;

“Website” means any and all of the following websites published by the Company and located on the world wide web via the uniform resource locators:- www.dngonline.co.uk, www.annandaleobserver.co.uk, www.dumfriescourier.co.uk, www.annandaleherald.co.uk, www.moffatnews.co.uk, www.DnG24.co.uk and any other website of the Company;

“you” means any person who has viewed, downloaded, used or otherwise accessed the Website and/or Website Information and includes (but is not limited to) any person who has been granted access to a special area of the Website, and “your” shall refer to you.

The Company is committed to preserving the privacy of all visitors to the Website. We know that you care how information about you is used and shared and we appreciate your trust in us to do that carefully and sensibly.

By using the Website, you consent to the collection, use and transfer of your information under the terms of this policy, including the use of cookies on the Website.

Information that we collect from you

When you use the Website you may be asked to provide certain information about yourself including for example your name, postal address or email address. We may also collect information about your usage of our Website as well as information about you from any messages you post to the Website and e-mails or letters you send to us or information gathered during telephone conversations with you.

Use of your information

Your information will enable us to provide you with access to all parts of the Website and to supply any Services you have requested. It will also enable us to contact you where necessary concerning your queries regarding the Services.

We will also use and analyse the information we collect so that we can administer, support, improve and develop our business.

The information we learn from customers helps us personalise and continually improve your service experience. We use the information to deliver the Services, communicate with you about services and promotional offers, update our records and maintain any accounts you may have with us. We also use this information to improve the Website and the Services, prevent or detect fraud or abuses of the Website and enable third parties to carry out technical, logistical or other functions on our behalf.

In particular, we may use your information to contact you for your views on the Services and to notify you occasionally about important changes or developments to the Website or Services similar to those you have already obtained from us. We may do this by way of feedback questionnaire or using other methods. Where you have consented, we might also use your information to let you know about other products and services which we or third parties carefully selected by us offer which may be of interest to you and we may contact you by post, telephone or fax, as well as by e-mail for this purpose. However, we will not release your contact information to any third party unless the release is part of the service you have registered for, or we have your consent, or we are required to do so by law. If you change your mind about being contacted in the future, please let us know by contacting us at our contact details set out below.

Cookies

Our Website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our Website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our Website and also allows us to improve our Website.

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.

The cookies we use allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around the Website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our Website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.The cookies also record your vote in a Website poll and remember your preferences for viewing images.

You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below.

Please note that our advertisers may also use cookies, over which we have no control.

You can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our Website. To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.

By continuing to access our Website without blocking cookies you consent to our use of cookies.

Disclosure of your information

The information you provide to us will be held on our computers in the UK and may be accessed by or given to our staff, the staff of our group companies and third parties who act for us (who may work outside the UK) for the purposes set out in this policy or for other purposes approved by you. By submitting your information to us, you agree that it may be transferred outside the European Economic Area. Countries outside the European Economic Area do not always have strong data protection laws. However, we will always take steps to ensure that your information is used by third parties in accordance with this policy.

We may also pass aggregate information on the usage of our Website to third parties but this will not include information that can be used to identify you.

If our business enters into a joint venture with or is sold to or merged with another business entity, your information may be disclosed to our new business partners or owners.

We will not sell your biographical information or contact details to any third party. We will not share or distribute any of the information you provide to us with or to any third party unless as part of the service you have registered for, or we are required to do so by law, or we have obtained your consent to send you details about third party products and/or services, in which case we may pass the information you provide to us to the providers of those goods and/or services.

Security and data retention

We employ appropriate security measures to protect your information from access by unauthorised persons and against unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction and damage. We will retain your information for a reasonable period or as long as the law requires.
Accessing and updating

You are entitled to see the information held about you and you may ask us to make any necessary changes to ensure that it is accurate and kept up to date. If you wish to do this, please contact us as we are the data controller for this information. We are entitled by law to charge a fee of £10 to meet our costs in providing you with details of the information we hold about you and may ask you for proof of identity to prevent unauthorised disclosure of private information.

Changes to our privacy and cookies policy

Any changes to this policy in the future will be posted to the Website and/or, where we feel it is appropriate, notified to you by email.

Contact

All comments, queries and requests relating to our use of your information are welcomed and should be addressed to DNG Media, 96/98 High Street, Annan, DG12 6EJ or submitted to sg@dngonline.co.uk